Cold
by Abyss-Dance
Summary: This is a WARRIORS FANFIC, ok? It's only the first chapter. Plot: What happens when a tough city cat collides with the Clan's strange ways? RavenLi is about to find out...


_In the heat of battle_, one can sometimes make an error in judgment. One could leap too soon, or too late.

But not Raven-Li.

Raven-Li the cat had witnessed -and fought in- many a battle in her lifetime. She understood that to lose one's cool, to lose one's concentration, meant loss. And in the City, loss almost always meant death.

Swift as a striking adder, relentless as a wave at sea, so Raven-Li fought her enemies.

Zinder, a tan tabby tom-cat, lashed out with unsheathed claws, but with the ease borne of practice Raven-Li turned the blow away. She aimed a strike of her own, a bright flare of lightning that was the weak winter sunlight on her claws; it tore through the thick fur on Zinder's scruff, scrawled a pair of bloody lines almost to his shoulders. Blood flew from the wound and splattered across the frozen earth.

He was a large cat, strong and used to fights. With a snort of rage he lunged, and as Raven-Li whirled away from his claws, a shrill battle cry rang in her ears.

She landed with her four paws spread, her bloodied claws glinting.

Zydeco, her cream-and-brown fur rippling in a breeze Raven-Li couldn't feel, soared at Zinder.

Raven-Li grinned. Of course her friend would be there; it had been moons since Raven-Li had fought alone. Now she had Zydeco, who was a braver and freer cat than many can hope to meet, and Staple, who had the kindest heart one could imagine,

Zinder ducked, his orange eyes wide, and--

He was suddenly on the ground.

Above him stood Zydeco, her long tail waving, a wide triumphant grin on her face. "Gotcha," she meowed. "Didn't expect such speed from a she-cat, I see?"

Zinder's eyes said _yes,_ and Zydeco shook her head. Sexism was alive and thriving in the City.

At that instant, another cat, just a subtle gray blue backlit against the white winter sky, flew at Zydeco. Zydeco cried out, and the iron tang of blood stung Raven-Li's nose.

Zydeco collapsed beneath the gray she-cat.

Raven-Li hissed in frustration and leaped at the gray cat, whose name happened to be Gray.

White-hot pain tore through her, as swift and sudden as the sun emerging from behind its veil of white clouds.

Raven-Li was tumbled off her feet, an event that had happened only five times before. She rolled over and over, spraying blood from a wound on her side, tracking the movements of the other cats as the sky and ground swapped places a dozen times.

She skidded to an ignoble stop only inches from the bank of the river.

She could hear the river's hungry roar from where she lay. A recent thaw had sent floodwater coursing through the riverbed, adding fuel to the proverbial fire that was the City's White River. At this time of year the waters were strong enough to suck even the best swimmer beneath the surface.

Beneath the surface lies death, freezing cold and merciless.

Raven-Li's breath clouded her vision. A dim, smoky shape towered above her, dripping hot blood into her eyes.

She blinked, her ice-blue eyes clearing enough to see who it was.

A large cat, a tan tabby with orange eyes. One of his ears was shredded, soaked with dried blood. Similar injuries marred the rest of his pelt as well: thin, long scratches ripped across his legs, countless tiny tears along his tail, many, many deep slashes smudging his back with blood. Three gaping gashes ripped his belly wide open.

The most recent of his wounds were the twin scratches on the scruff of his neck.

It was Zinder.

Behind him, Staple, a storm gray tabby tom-cat with a human's metal staple in one ear, slashed at the chest of an unfamiliar cat. Further down the river, Zydeco pinned down Gray, who was bleeding freely from a dozen cuts. Raven-Li had left her mark on her as well-- Gray's face was painted dark red by blood from her right ear, which had been torn off. The gash on her shoulder was wide enough for a human to stick his or her arm in, if he or she had felt the urge too.

Both of Raven-Li's friends were occupied. There was no one to help her.

Raven-Li tried to stand, fighting the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm her. She remembered saying something, but the buzzing in her head masked the sound of her voice.

Zinder laughed outright. The blood from his wounds looked rust-colored in the weak light. "The river is hungry this morning," he meowed, his orange eyes flickering. "It hasn't had anything to eat yet. …it would be _rude_ to deny it the food it rightfully owns… to let it starve… maybe I should feed it." He moved, slightly, and Raven-Li twitched.

"Zinder, I swear we didn't mean anything when--" she began, but he cut her off.

"I don't like you, Raven-Li. You or your friends." Zinder growled, sounding both childish and deadly serious at the same time. Over his shoulder, Zydeco dug her sharp teeth into Gray's throat.

He didn't seem to notice. "The river is lucky: it doesn't have to hunt for itself. It has others to do that work for it."

Gray stumbled, her dark eyes wide, panicked. Blood drenched her throat. Zydeco matched her pace step for step, waiting to pounce.

Another cat, one from Zinder's gang -a gang who fought each other as much as they fought their enemies-, ran full-tilt into Zydeco, knocking her off her feet.

Gray limped to Zinder's side, breathing hard. She left unsteady red paw prints behind her.

Both cats smirked at her. Gray didn't have long to live, and did not intend to waste her last moments.

The moved as one toward Raven-Li, and then the world flipped one more time.

Into the river.

Angry white water swirled around Raven-Li, roaring, the sound of it deafening. It whipped the blood from her fur, and as the redness curled away, it really did look as though the river was ravenous.

Raven-Li kicked out with four powerful legs, struggling in the grip of the rapids, her head barely above the waves. Zinder and Gray watched her silently from the bank, growing further away all the time.

Two more shapes, one sleek and fast-looking, the other sagging, horror-struck, appeared. Zydeco and Staple.

They had come to watch her die.

Drawing in a breath, twisting around in the water, Raven-Li lunged toward the bank. The waves pushed her back, fighting her like a living being. Above and behind her she saw Zydeco tense to jump. Raven-Li opened her mouth to cry out, but a heartbeat later the fury of the water dragged her under.

Everything was quiet beneath the waves. Above, she could see the opaque whiteness of the surface, the crazy pattern of swirls the foam drew. Lack of air was making her lightheaded, and the freezing water was sucking her strength away. Already her paws were growing numb.

She kicked out desperately, her pale eyes locked on the surface, picking out the clouds above, the dark shape of the bank. A different world.

_I'm not ready to leave it yet!_ She cried out silently.

She broke through the surface, and instantly all was chaos. Helpless in the water's grip, Raven-Li flipped and turned, lashing out with unsheathed claws at the muddy bank, searching for a hold. She found nothing.

She slashed again, praying to someone, anyone, whether it was one of the human's gods or the mysterious deities the cat cults preyed to, that she would find a hold. Apparently they did not hear her, or maybe Raven-Li was paying the price for being a nonbeliever, for a moment later the water crushed her beneath the surface once more.

Trailing incandescent bubbles in her wake, Raven-Li sank. Now the numbness had spread to her entire body. Her energy was nearly gone. Spent. But at least the water didn't _hurt _anymore, didn't stab like the points of a thousand razor claws.

There, beneath the turmoil of eddies and waves that made the surface, Raven-Li felt her thoughts begin to slow. The constant dialogue that screamed at her to escape the water grew calm; a kind of hopeless, helpless dreamlike state descended on her. It transcended all logic, but at that moment Raven-Li felt almost happy. _It's so peaceful down here,_ she thought. _I wish I could stay down here forever._

…_Everything looks perfect from so far away…_

But the river had not yet finished with her.

She was yanked rudely back to the world of anarchy that lay above. As the freezing air struck her face she felt her mind clear, and the warning notes in her mind started up again.

Another white wave pounded against her, and Raven-Li felt sure that if she went under for a third time she would come back unconscious. And then, dead.

Using the last of her strength, Raven-Li kicked out toward the bank. One paw struck the muddy sides, though it was so numb she could barely tell, and she ran her claws along the bank. She felt a tiny catch. Flicking her paws, she dug her claws into the mud. They curled around something tough and wiry…a root, no, a _lifeline._ Bracing herself against the river bottom, slipping on the stones, her paws so numb they felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds, she tried her best to push herself toward the bank. She felt now as if she had reached the finish line and that she could either reach it or fall, and if she fell she'd fall forever.

The time had come to sink or swim, if you pardon the pun.

Her other paw struck the bottom near the bank, and her heart began to pound. The rush of adrenaline flushed some of the numbness from her body, and suddenly she began to throb, every inch of her full of stinging pain. The burst of energy it gave her propelled her the rest of the way to the bank, out of deep water. She hooked her claws around the root, praying almost subconsciously -_If I live I'll become religious. I'll join one of those cults,_ she thought- for luck.

It was then that her strength failed.

One paw, her left back one, was still in deep water. Raven-Li felt heavy and tired and as she struggled to raise that paw, to pull it into the shallows, she slipped.

Her grip on the root was loosened, and a dozen cutting darts of pain marked the tearing of her claws. With a soft cry Raven-Li released the root.

The river reclaimed her.

Sinking slowly, Raven-Li realized that this had been it. It was over. She had no strength left to try again.

The water closed over her head. The stinging left her. Now she was numb all over; numb to her very core. Everything was fading, losing its color. Her eyes closed. She let them; there was nothing to see anyway. Just the riverbed rocks, worn smooth by the pounding of the water, and the featureless hump of the bank slipping by.

Memories pushed their way forward, and Raven-Li turned her attention to them. There was nothing better to do.

Zydeco. Staple. Her friends thought her dead; she knew it in her heart. She would be dead soon, so it really didn't matter.

Her family? She really didn't remember them. Not well.

The City was a cold place, she realized. Even in summer.

It was winter now. The water was cold. Raven-Li knew this even though she could no longer feel it. Or maybe she knew _because_ she couldno longer feel it.

The world came apart, narrowed down to just Raven-Li in the water, and then to nothing.

All around her was cold.

_Cold like the water._


End file.
